End-user interaction with a computing device is mediated by device applications resident on a computing device. A device application on a specific computing device that is available to all end-users on the computing device has a usage policy commonly referred to as “bound to device.” An alternative and common application usage policy is “bound to identity,” in which an end-user can engage with the device application on multiple computing devices using the same end-user identity. In a “bound to identity” model, validating the end-user identifying credentials is a precondition for permitting the end-user to engage with the device application.
The “bound to identity” application usage policy is the policy most deployed with modern device applications. These modern device applications change internal state during end-user interactions in which the device applications access remote networked resources. The device applications access the remote networked resources through adaptors on the portable computing devices. The adaptors support wireless network standards, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (hereinafter referred to as GSM), IEEE 802.11, or the like. In a system implementing a “bound to identity” application usage policy, an end-user expects application coherency and consistency among all computing devices associated with the end-user. Therefore, the current systems implementing “bound to identity” application usage policies require the end-user to have access to a physical network for each computing device in order for the device application to provide internal state updates so that all the available computing devices associated with the end-user remain coherent and consistent between each other when the end-user interacts with the device application on any one of the available computing devices. The physical network, however, is “bound to device,” meaning network access is bound to the computing device authenticated by a device identifier, such as the International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI) used by a GSM network, and a network subscriber identifier, such as a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) used for device authentication over a GSM network. If the computing device is not authenticated for network access over the physical network, the “bound to identity” model for device applications cannot be realized. Therefore, in order to realize a “bound to identity” application usage model, current “bound to identity” systems require a separate data plan contract for each computing device. The data plan is bound to the computing device and, in some plans, bound to additional related computing devices. The data plan specifies an amount of data that the computing device may consume while operating over a provider's network.